Writing for Ars Technica, Megan Geuss examines a new MIT study that finds, “government and private R&D spending contributed the most to cost-per-watt declines for solar panels since 1980. This spending spurred the low-level efficiency improvements that were important for the solar industry on a technical level.”
Financial Times reporter Ed Crooks highlights a new study by MIT researchers identifying the key factors leading to the declining cost of solar power. The study highlights “the critical role played by government policy to help grow markets around the world.”
Writing for The Wall Street Journal, Dr. Joseph Coughlin, director of the AgeLab, writes that smart technologies and on-demand services could allow seniors to stay in their own homes. Coughlin notes that the freedom the connected home provides for choosing services, “is an enormous benefit not only for older adults’ wallets, but for their own sense of independence and personal control.”
BBC News reporter David Robson writes that MIT researchers have devised a simple test to help determine whether you are communicating with a chatbot or a human. Robson writes that the findings suggest “knowingly flouting a taboo and provoking, rather than simply describing, an emotion might be the most straightforward way of conveying your shared humanity.”
Vox reporter David Roberts writes about a new study by MIT researchers examining what factors contributed to bringing down the cost of solar panels. Roberts writes that the researchers found “policies that create incentives for private investors to develop and deploy solar panels are responsible for well over half of the decline in solar PV costs.”
Ray Schroeder writes for Inside Higher Ed about Underlay, a knowledge base developed by MIT researchers to provide web users deeper citations of sources. Schroeder writes that Underlay is “a great example of what may become a new generation of search engines that is able to sort through the fact, opinion and misleading information of the ‘post-truth’ era.”
Prof. Tod Machover speaks with WBUR’s Andrea Shea about his new opera, which uses technology and music to tell the story of composer Arnold Schoenberg. Machover notes that opera, “was always a kind of funky experimental form where it was the place to combine narrative and visuals and engineering stage sets and music that worked — as a listening experience.”
This Quartz video highlights how MIT researchers are developing a self-driving boat system that can navigate waterways and can transform into different structures to move cargo, trash or build a temporary bridge. “The boats find the best path between preprogrammed locations, while using GPS, laser sensors, and cameras to avoid hitting anything,” explains Michael Tabb.
MIT researchers examined why a third of Wikipedia deliberations go unresolved and developed a new tool that could be used to help resolve more discussions, reports Samantha Cole for Motherboard. Cole explains that “the tool uses the data they found and analyzed in this research, to summarize threads and predict when they’re at risk of going stale.”
In honor of the late Prof. Michel Dertouzos’ 82nd birthday, Google honored the renowned computer scientist for his work with a special doodle, reports Nina Godlewski for Newsweek. "Michael had a broad understanding of technology and a teacher's knack for explaining ideas," says Prof. Emeritus Fernando Corbató.
Deborah Blum, director of the Knight Science Journalism Program, speaks with Boston Globe reporter Michael Floreak about her book exploring the origins of food regulation in the U.S. The book, “reminded me why these rules are so important and what a thin line they are between us and the bad old days of the 19th century when cookbook authors had to warn their readers about fake food,” she explains.
The life and legacy of Prof. Michael Dertouzos, who was “renowned for making complicated technology accessible to the general public,” is celebrated in a new Google doodle, reports Helen Rogers for CNN. Rogers notes that Dertouzos “predicted how the internet and the rise of personal computers would impact people's lives.”
Boston Herald reporter Jordan Graham writes that MIT researchers have developed an autonomous system that allows fleets of drones to navigate without GPS and could be used to help find missing hikers. “What we’re trying to do is automate the search part of the search-and-rescue problem with a fleet of drones,” explains graduate student Yulun Tian.
BBC News highlights how Media Lab researchers have built a software program that allows web users to suggest actions for a hired actor to perform. Researchers are “keen to see whether internet users can work together to issue a consistent series of commands to the actor that help complete the game, or whether the commands will be discordant.”
Taylor Pettaway of the Boston Herald writes that MIT’s new college of computing will be one of the university’s largest structural changes made since 1950. Offering classes in different fields, “students will be able to experience on campus new computational tools and these new abilities transform academics on campus with every study,” says Provost Martin Schmidt.